How to Design an Office to Scale

Successful room design requires sufficient planning. By drawing a room and its elements to scale, you ensure proper fit and placement of furniture. It's especially important to design an office to scale, as there are multiple pieces of furniture and equipment contained in this space, as well as considerations for adequate walking and standing space at print stations, for example. There are several different scale ratios, but the most common in interior residential and commercial design is the 1/4-inch scale, which converts each foot of space or furniture to 1/4 inch, according to Microsoft. Use graph paper when sketching a room to increase accuracy. Does this Spark an idea?

Instructions

1

Measure the office walls and floor in feet using a tape measure. Do not leave out any elements you will be working around, such as columns or windows. Write down all dimensions in feet.

2

Convert measurements using a -inch scale, in which one foot equals inch.

3

Using a ruler, sketch the converted dimensions on graph paper. This represents the office space.

4

Measure all the furniture and equipment that will go into the office using the same inch scale. Sketch each piece on graph paper and cut out using scissors or a razor cutter.

5

Place furniture and equipment pieces on the drawn-to-scale room. Move cut-outs until you achieve an efficient design, considering walkways, adequate room for chairs around desks, and standing room around print stations.